


Sleep it off

by journeythroughtherain



Series: Winteriron Week 2019 [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Curses, Fluff, Holding Hands, M/M, Pining Bucky Barnes, Pre-Slash, Sharing a Bed, Soulmates, Spooning, and a tiny mention of Bucky's inappropriate dreams, oh and how could i forget
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-11 11:34:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19927423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/journeythroughtherain/pseuds/journeythroughtherain
Summary: While James had dreamed of getting to cuddle up to Tony many times before, this wasnotthe situation he'd had in mind. For one, he'd imagined it being because they bothwantedto.For day 3 of Winteriron Week.





	Sleep it off

**Author's Note:**

> For day 3 of Winteriron Week:  
>  _Bed Sharing / “I’m not drunk enough for this.” / Soulmates_
> 
> Doubles as fills for the following bingo squares:  
> TSB A4 - Bed sharing  
> WIB G4 - Soulmate

James stared down at the bed, a feeling of dread entirely unrelated to the curse they were under filling his body, making him sweat nervously.

He was going to share a bed with Tony. He was going to lie down, next to his crush, and they were going to _touch_. How anyone expected James to fall asleep at all like that was a wonder. Still, they didn't really have a choice. The bad guy of the week, a severely pissed off witch of some kind, had managed to hit him and Tony with a curse that supposedly "bound their souls together, intertwined so tightly that parting brought death", which turned out meant that if they spent more than five minutes without touching each other, it would feel like their insides were torn apart. 

James could testify to that, as he'd been snatched up and poofed away to the far side of the battlefield immediately after the curse struck, separating him and Iron Man and frying his comms so he couldn't even tell them where he was. 

He'd felt it at once — the tugging feeling in his chest, as if there was a hook in his sternum pulling him towards something on the other end of the line. He hadn't known yet what that something was, only that his instincts were screaming at him to get to it as fast as possible. Every minute that passed had the feeling increase until he felt like he could hardly breathe as he was climbing through the ruins on his way back to the others. 

After the four minute mark, he could barely feel his feet underneath him with the pain that wracked through his body. Eyesight and hearing fading, he almost didn't catch the bright light and low hum of repulsors closing in. 

He _did_ feel it when a weight approximate that of a grown man was dumped onto him, though mostly because of the immediate absence of pain, finally letting him breathe and get back control of his senses. The first thing he registered after the sweet release from the gut wrenching agony, was the rich smell of expensive cologne mixed with a tinge of sweat, and the sound of a very familiar voice groaning in his ear.

"Please, let's never do that again."

Huffing out a small laugh in agreement, James carefully sat up, bringing the person in his lap with him. A quick look around let him know that the Iron Man armor was standing by a couple of feet away, watching over them as they gathered themselves. The armor's head turned towards him when he moved, the tinny but comfortingly familiar voice of JARVIS ringing through.

"Your vitals seems to have returned to acceptable levels, sir. While you were out of commision, your teammates managed to apprehend the 'Wicked Witch of the West', as you called her. May I suggest refraining from unnecessarily aggravating your adversaries in the future to avoid situations such as these, sir?"

Tony groaned again, though this time it seemed mostly for show. "You know me, J, poking sticks at powerful people that I probably shouldn't be poking at is kind of what I do."

He made to rise up, and James was suddenly gripped by fear, remembering the terrible pain that had only disappeared when Tony had been dumped over him earlier. Before Tony could stand completely, James grabbed onto one of his hands making Tony stop and turn to him, eyebrow raised in question.

He cleared his throat, "The curse she threw, she hit you too, didn't she? I don't know if it affected you the same, but the pain… It only went away when you touched me earlier."

The look on Tony's face turned contemplating. "You think it might come back if we let go?"

"Yeah."

"Well then, I guess the armor's out. Prepare yourself for a hike."

-

When they arrived back with the others — still holding hands — they'd gotten a few looks, but a well placed "murder stare" had kept anyone from commenting. James was mostly just glad his mask helped cover up the blush he'd been sporting almost the entire time he and Tony had been walking hand in hand to get there.

While they'd been trekking through the battlefield, Strange had interrogated the witch, who had apparently been less than helpful. As far as he could figure out the curse would likely fade away on its own in a matter of days, the effect weakening as time passed on. After examining them both he'd mumbled something in that mystic magic jargon of his and declared that while the level of pain they'd experience would stay the same, the time they could be apart without touching before it set in would increase until the curse disappeared entirely. By that evening, he'd told them, they should be able to spend the better part of an hour apart before needing to touch again. By tomorrow evening, the curse should be as good as gone.

Which lead to this situation. Because while giving a high five or a brief shoulder clasp every half hour or so was enough to stave off the effects of the magic while they were awake, sleeping was another matter entirely.

"I'm not drunk enough for this."

Looking up, he could see Tony on the other side of the bed, wearing only a pair of soft-looking pajama pants, much like James himself. Tony had suggested going shirtless as it was their best bet on ensuring they'd be touching all through the night, and James had agreed. He almost regretted it now, as Tony looked even more gorgeous than usual even as he was staring down at the bed with a resentful look on his face. 

Unfortunately the view wasn't enough to distract James from the stab of hurt he felt at the comment. Sure, it wasn't an ideal situation, and he knew he wasn't Tony's favorite person, even after they'd worked out their complicated history, but was it really so bad having to share a bed with James? 

"Yeah, well, it's only one night, it's not gonna kill you."

He must have been unable to keep all of the hurt out of his voice, because when Tony's eyes met his again, they were filled with apology. 

"No, I didn't mean it that way, I just…" he trailed off, but James' enhanced hearing managed to pick up the tail end of his mumbles anyway, something about _how it just might_.

Whatever. Either way, what Tony thought didn't matter. They still had to do this unless they wanted to spend the entire night waking up every hour in misery. 

Sighing, James decided to take the first step, and pulled back the covers so he could lay down. Tony followed after a minute of hesitance, but soon enough they were both lying in the bed side by side.

Not touching.

"This isn't going to work."

"You, uh, have any suggestions?"

James did, in fact, have some suggestions. They tried holding hands at first, but neither of them liked sleeping on their backs, so that was out. Sleeping back to back risked them drifting apart through the night, so that was a no-go. Either of them using the other as a pillow turned out way too awkward for either of them to be comfortable with. 

After nearly half an hour of trying out different positions with no success, James sat up in the bed, and stated the obvious.

"We're going to have to spoon."

Tony joined him, sighing tiredly. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He looked down on the covers, where his hands were twisting and untwisting the fabric in what James recognized as a nervous gesture. "You have any preferences? Big spoon or little spoon?"

James opened his mouth to tell Tony he didn't really care, but snapped it shut as a thought occurred to him. Ever since he'd first admitted to himself he had feelings for Tony, his crush had starred in quite a few of his dreams, and not all innocent either. More than once he'd woken up with Tony's name on his lips and a "situation" in his pants, and if only _thinking_ about his crush was enough to get his body all excited on its own, he didn't want to find out what sleeping next to him would do. And he _definitely_ didn't want Tony to find out.

"Little spoon," he blurted out. He refused to meet Tony's eyes, suddenly feeling like his face would betray the embarrassing reasoning behind his choice.

"That's fine, everyone likes to be the little spoon sometimes, you don't have to feel embarrassed."

Tony's voice turned _soft_ and _understanding_ , which only served to make James feel even more embarrassed, and this time he didn't have his mask to hide his blush behind. Instead of answering, he scooted down back under the covers and turned to his side, back towards Tony. 

He felt like he was almost vibrating with nerves as he listened to the sound of shuffling sheets behind him, but then he felt a warm chest line up against his back, and an arm hesitantly reaching across his waist to rest a hand on his stomach.

"Is this okay?"

He could feel the warmth from Tony's breath on the back of his neck at the question, the sensation filling his stomach with butterflies and sending shivers down his spine. Yes, he was decidedly _okay_.

He told Tony as much, relishing in the feeling of the other man relaxing into his position as he did so. It didn't take long for his own body to follow, soothed by the steady rise and fall of the solid chest behind him, and by what he suspected was Tony subconsciously tracing small circles into the skin of his bare stomach with his hand. 

Soon enough he was lulled into sleep.

-

For once, waking up was not an instant affair. He was used to going from asleep to awake in the literal blink of an eye, but now his mind felt delightfully sluggish and slow, the remnants of sleep still clinging to the edges. The light behind his eyelids told him it was morning, and as tempting as it was to ask JARVIS to tint the windows darker, he didn't want to break the quiet of the morning and admit he was awake. Besides, he was plenty comfortable where he was, still enveloped in Tony's arms.

He was just about dozing off again when he heard a quiet mumble from behind him.

"This is really nice…"

He felt Tony sigh against his neck, and James wondered for a moment if he was waking up or talking in his sleep.

"'m gonna miss this later..."

_What?_

Suddenly wide awake, it took all of James' willpower not to tense up or flail out of the bed in surprise. 

"James…"

The words were accompanied by a slight tightening of the arm currently curled around his middle, and James was certain his heart was about to jump right out of his chest.

He _really really_ hoped it wasn't sleep talk.

"Tony?" He hedged, wanting to know but reluctant to break the moment.

An answering hum was followed by a soft nuzzle into his neck, and James wanted nothing more than to stop questioning it all and melt into the bed and Tony's sleepy embrace.

He needed to know, however.

"Tony, are you awake right now?"

"Mm...?"

James could feel the moment the answer to his question went from _no_ to _yes, most definitely_. He held his breath as Tony tensed up waiting to see what he would do, _hoping_ desperately that it wouldn't involve shoving either James or himself off the bed in disgust. 

One second passed, then two, then five.

Finally, Tony relaxed again, and to James' great surprise he nudged himself even closer than he was earlier.

"Is… Is this okay?" Tony asked him hesitantly, echoing his question from last night. 

"Yeah," James breathed out, unable to hold back his smile as he heard Tony's happy little hum at his answer.

"Yeah, it really is."


End file.
